


Speed of Life

by slstmaraudersjple



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Covert Affairs AU, Elijah is a good big brother, F/F, Fake Marriage, Fluff, Protective Klaus Mikaelson, Some angst, but it's not really fake, in a sweet romantic way, klaus is a sneaky bastard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24502387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slstmaraudersjple/pseuds/slstmaraudersjple
Summary: “I would have burned the world if you were taken from me. How could you not know that I’m in love with you?” She was loyal to the CIA; he was wanted by every international agency in the world. He was her target – he wasn’t supposed to mean anything. And Caroline Forbes most definitely wasn’t supposed to fall for her mark. A Klaroline AH/AU one-shot loosely inspired by the TV series Covert Affairs.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 91
Collections: However Long It Takes





	Speed of Life

**Author's Note:**

> ***This was first posted to FFN under the same username.***
> 
> Warning(s): Mentions of bloodshed and murder and sex, but nothing graphic or explicit.
> 
> A/N: Flashback scenes are in italics. Also, I’m not a medical professional so I’m not familiar with exact medical terminology or procedures, so I tried to be vague. Additionally, some lines are taken from dialogue in Covert Affairs – they will be italicized and bolded as appropriate. Also, you don’t need to have watched Covert Affairs to enjoy this one-shot. But if you’ve watched it, basically: Caroline is Annie Walker, Tatia is Lena Smith, Klaus is Simon Fischer, and Stefan is Auggie Anderson. The title comes from one of the episodes.

Caroline had been betrayed.

By Tatia Petrova.

Tatia, who had been a legend within the CIA.

Tatia, who had been her mentor.

Tatia… who was actually a FSB spy, who had set Caroline up as a traitor.

Faced with the woman she had come to admire, Caroline could only ask, “You expected us to fall for each other?”

 **“I expected you to fall for him.”** Tatia said coolly, a faint smile on her lips as she added, **“But what I _didn’t_ expect was for him to fall for _you_.”**

And then Tatia shot her in the chest twice at point-blank.

Caroline could only gasp as the bullets pierced her torso, and her legs gave up on her as she slumped to the floor.

She desperately tried to reach for her gun, but it was too far away and her limbs were too heavy. She was losing blood too quickly, darkness threatening to overtake her.

It hurt to breathe.

Her last thoughts were of Klaus and how she never told him how she felt about him.

* * *

_They first met in Morocco._

_Caroline, while pretending to be a vacationing American, rigged her rental car’s breaks to fail so that his vehicle would accidentally crash into her from behind._

_The resulting mild concussion had been genuine and inconvenient, but ultimately worth it._

_She stormed out of her car, cursing at the tiny spots dancing in her vision and the painful brightness of the sun as she stumbled towards his vehicle, furious and ready to yell at him._

_He also stepped out of his vehicle, albeit more composed than she was. He’d been concerned, immediately noticing her stumbled speech and the way she kept blinking hard, and promptly ushered them into a nearby café and ordered tea for them._

_Klaus Mikaelson was devilishly handsome, with beautifully curled dirty blond hair, the most striking blue-gray eyes, and a sinfully wicked smile… and the charm and wealth to match._

_“Are you alright, love?”_

_“I suppose so,” Caroline carefully responded, reaching up to touch her forehead. Then she recalled the damage to the rental car and groaned, “It’ll be such a pain to get a replacement rental.”_

_“Lots of vacation plans, then?” The question appeared to be genuine, curiosity stirring in his eyes._

_She sipped on her tea as she thought back to her itinerary, “Well… I was planning on hiking through the Todra Gorge, sandboarding at Erg Chebbi, and checking out Ait Ben Haddou, among other things…”_

_“Not your typical tourist spots, then.”_

_Caroline found herself grinning as she cheerfully responded, “Of course not! If I’m going to travel somewhere, I’m going to explore! Life’s too short to do anything else.”_

_He flashed her a charming dimpled smile as he offered, “It appears that I have some apologies to make for interrupting your trip, then. Would you care for some company, Miss…?”_

_“Forbes. Caroline Forbes. And I suppose I wouldn’t mind for company as adventurous as I am.” She smiled at him flirtatiously. If he was offering her an in, she wasn’t exactly going to refuse now._

_“A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.” Klaus smiled, and he added, “Klaus Mikaelson, at your service. And there’s nothing I’d like more than an adventure with fine company.”_

* * *

Caroline woke up to the sound of machines beeping. There was an oxygen mask on her face, and she was hooked up to a variety of medical equipment. She vaguely recognized the IV drop and not much else.

Everything hurt.

“I wouldn’t move yet, if I were you.” A familiar voice said softly.

She glanced over to the window, where _he_ was standing.

 _“Klaus,”_ she choked out, struggling to say his name with the oxygen mask in her way.

He was by her side in an instant, the expression in his eyes stormy, but he kept his voice gentle. “I’m here, sweetheart. You’re safe. Go back to sleep.”

She had a thousand questions she wanted to ask, but the steady beep of the machines and the pain medications in her system lulled her back to sleep before she could pick one.

Weight carefully settled down beside her, and he repeated in a soft and comforting murmur, “You’re safe, Caroline. I promise you.”

The last thing she felt was the faintest touch of pressure on her face, the subtlest stroke of fingertips down her cheek.

* * *

_Caroline discovered that Klaus was an amazing travel companion. They connected in a way that she’d never connected with anyone else._

_She knew his story – Tatia had explained to her that **“espionage is literally in his blood.”** Klaus had been born in the UK, the fourth of seven children. His parents, Mikael and Esther Mikaelson, made a high profile defection to Russia. It was rumored that Esther was a KGB agent, and that it was how she had met Mikael. Shortly after Mikael was killed, Esther took her seven children and traveled the world with them. _

_Eventually, she settled the Mikaelson family into the UK and the oldest children – Freya, Finn, and Elijah – were tasked with expanding the Mikaelson family name and establishing connections. Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah were sent to boarding school for several years. The youngest, Henrik, remained at home with his mother, under the tutelage of private tutors. Klaus began making a name for himself when he was a teenager, and his reputation grew with him._

_Tatia’s advice had been simple: **“Get intimate enough with the man and he’ll tell you everything.”** Caroline couldn’t deny the attraction between them. The sex was incredible – easily the best she’d ever had, and she was pretty sure that he’d ruined her for other men. Klaus was an incredibly attentive lover, content to coax every bit of pleasure out of her before letting her orgasm._

_He was a great conversationalist – she loved talking to him. He had the most interesting stories about his travels and the people he met. He seemed genuinely interested in getting to know her – her hopes, dreams, and wishes. Caroline found herself telling him things that she never really shared with anyone else – like her tumultuous relationship with her mother, how she always wished she had a sibling, how she always wanted a cat but was unfortunately allergic to them. He confessed to her that he loved painting, that he didn’t quite know what to do with six siblings but she was free to take one off his hands, and that he wasn’t Mikael’s biological son because Esther had an affair with one of the Mikaelson allies, Ansel, who oversaw the North East Atlantic area._

_Klaus also offered a challenge to her competitive nature. They chased each other through the streets of Paris in France, went skiing in the mountains of Norway, and hiked through the vineyards of Italy. Somewhere along the way, on a luxury yacht off the coast of Greece, Caroline realized that she’d fallen in love with Klaus Mikaelson._

_And then everything changed._

* * *

The next time she woke up, it was daylight again, and she wasn’t wearing the oxygen mask anymore.

Klaus was sitting in an armchair by her bedside, reading a book. His usually clean shaven face had stubble on it.

He looked up when she stirred, closing the book and setting it aside. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?”

“Everything hurts,” she admitted, reaching for the cup on the bedside table. She was parched, and her throat hurt.

Klaus intercepted her, grabbing the cup and filling it three-quarters full with water from the pitcher before carefully placing it in her hand. He pressed a couple buttons on the side of the bed, and the bed shifted to help her into a sitting position.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, after taking a couple sips.

“You don’t have to thank me.” He responded quietly, watching her with an intense gaze.

“How long has it been since…?” She trailed off, hesitant to finish.

_Since I was shot?_

“You were unconscious for 3 days until you woke up that first time. You were out for another day until you woke up again. It has been 5 days since Tatia Petrova tried to kill you.”

He slid into the bed, carefully gathering her up and placing her on his lap, mindful of the medical equipment she was hooked up to.

“Tatia Petrova is dead.” He looked at her then, his voice low and dark as he continued, “She was lucky that I found you when I did. She had just shot you and was working to place incriminating documents in your hands. She was lucky that I granted her the mercy of a swift death instead of prolonging a torturous one. Had I been too late, and you were unable to be saved, she would be begging me to end her life years from now, and I would still refuse her.”

Caroline stared at him, her eyes wide. At her expression, he frowned and added quietly, “I would have burned the world if you were taken from me, Caroline. How could you not know that I’m in love with you?”

“Because I was scared,” she whispered in confession, unwilling to look at him, “because I realized I fell in love with you when we were in Greece and I didn’t know how to tell you.”

He stiffened underneath her.

She turned her face into his shoulder, tears pooling in her eyes as she continued, “It was easy to believe that you were interested in me for information and for sex. I didn’t know if I wanted to believe that it might be more. I’ve never been anyone’s first choice – I’ve always been second, third, last. Never first. You’re Klaus Mikaelson – you could have anyone you wanted, so out of everyone in the world, why would you want me?” She couldn’t help the rising sob as she finished, and the tears that slid down her face.

When he didn’t say anything, she kept her gaze downward, unsure of what the silence of his response meant. As the silence grew louder, she felt her heartbeat quickening, and she felt nauseous, sick to her stomach, and, to her horror, rising shame. Her voice caught in her throat, and she knew that she was about to dissolve into tears again.

Klaus stopped her when she made to move away from him, trying to retreat into herself. He carefully framed her face with his hands, gently tilting her face up to look at him, and he tenderly brushed away her tears with his thumbs as he simply responded, his voice hoarse, “Why would I ever want anyone else when I have you, Caroline? You’re beautiful, you’re strong, you’re full of light. How could I not want you?”

Stunned by the sincerity in his voice, she could only respond, “Oh.”

He smiled at her before leaning forward and brushing her lips with his in a feather-light kiss.

* * *

_Klaus invited her to come with him on a work trip to Hong Kong._

_When they landed, his handler had been there to greet them. Silas Salvatore, a notorious member of the FSB. He had quietly and menacingly threatened her throughout the week, hinting that he knew she was a CIA operative._

_She received word that a couple CIA operatives stationed in Hong Kong had turned up dead, their bodies found floating in the Lam Tseun River. Their bodies had been mutilated, their heads nearly decapitated from their bodies._

_It was a message for her – she would be next._

_Her passport mysteriously disappeared, along with her emergency cell phone._

_She felt like a nervous wreck – she didn’t know how she was going to extract herself from the situation. If her cover was blown. If she was going to end up like those other CIA operatives. She didn’t even know who she could reach out to._

_The day they were supposed to leave, Klaus insisted that they stop by a school, telling her that he wanted to show her where he and his siblings had grown up for a while._

_Silas met them at the school, his smile dark and menacing._

_The expression on Klaus’ face was unreadable._

_Klaus guided her down a corridor, his hand on the small of her back. “Just here,” he said, nodding towards an empty classroom. “Ladies first.”_

_She swallowed nervously, stepping past him into the room._

_Caroline spun around as the door slammed shut behind her, running towards it and pounding her fists on the door. “Let me out!” She yelled._

_Nothing._

_She bent down and peeked through the keyhole._

_“Now kill her.” Silas ordered._

_Klaus didn’t say a word as he unwrapped a wicked knife, holding it up as he turned towards the door._

_Silas stood, smiling as he watched._

_And then Klaus lunged at his handler, wrapping his hands around Silas’ face as he ran the knife over his throat, severing the carotid artery._

_Klaus then let go of Silas, letting the body fall to the floor, blood pooling. He dropped the knife as well, stepping over the body as he unlocked the door and ushered her out, guiding her around the blood._

_“Let’s go.”_

_When they reached the rental car, he dug around the side of the car, reaching into Silas’ bag, and pulled out two items, handing them to her. “I believe these are yours, sweetheart.”_

_Her passport and emergency cell phone._

_As he drove them to the airport, she thought back on his most recent actions._

_Klaus had just killed his handler._

_For her._

_To protect her._

_She was hesitant to think about the bigger question:_ What did it mean?

* * *

“Where are we?” She finally asked later that day.

Klaus’ response was somewhat evasive as he responded, “A private hospital in Switzerland. Elijah arranged for the transportation.”

He looked uncharacteristically nervous, and Caroline frowned, trying to figure out why. She got her answer when the charge nurse came in with a clipboard and greeted her with a bright, “It’s good to see you up, Mrs. Mikaelson! Your husband has been so caring and attentive – it’s incredibly sweet!”

Caroline blinked several times, and she watched Klaus reach up and place a nervous hand on the back of his neck. It was then that she noticed the rings on her left hand – a stunning and outrageously expensive diamond set in rose-gold bands. The engagement ring featured a large teardrop surrounded by 3 smaller teardrops on each side that decreased in size. The wedding band was curved, a row of small circular diamonds along the front. All-in-all, it was a beautiful set that she would’ve chosen for herself.

She finally turned her attention back to the nurse, glancing at Klaus, who face turned light pink as she slowly responded, “Yes, my… _husband_. Very sweet man.”

The nurse – whose nametag read Charlene – beamed as she looked down at the notes on the clipboard. “It looks like your vitals are stable. Your wounds are healing nicely and should leave you with minimal scarring. You should be able to start transitioning from soft to solid foods now that we’ve removed your oxygen mask. And you should be able to sit for a shower with minimal assistance – I’m sure your husband can help with that.”

“Thank you Charlene.” Klaus responded with a charming smile. “I’ll have someone bring over my _wife_ ’s preferred toiletries. Why don’t you give us some time for Caroline to decide what she wants to have for dinner tonight before sending someone to help us prepare for a shower?”

Charlene smiled in response. “Of course! I’ll send someone by in twenty minutes. The kitchen staff is more than happy to prepare meals for the both of you if you’d like, or you are more than welcome to have your meals brought in. If you need anything else, please press the button by your bedside, Mrs. Mikaelson.”

As soon as the nurse left and shut the door behind her, Caroline admired the rings on her left hand as she casually commented, “Y’know… I don’t recall getting married. Maybe my memory was tampered with.”

“It was Elijah’s idea.” Klaus mumbled, the tips of his ears turning red.

“And you thought it was a good idea because…?”

He shrugged. “It makes for a better cover with less questions asked. It’s easier to pass as a doting husband concerned over the wellbeing of his wife who was caught in a tragic shooting than it is to introduce myself as an internationally wanted criminal spiriting away a CIA agent for her own safety.”

Caroline mulled over her words for a moment before she sighed. “I suppose Elijah also has the properly forged documents?”

Klaus hesitated for a moment before he clarified, “They’re legitimate.”

She blinked. “What?”

A thoughtful expression crossed his face before he amended, “Or at least, they will be, if you sign them. The paperwork that went through the court has a forged signature on it, but I have the original paperwork with a blank space for your signature. Elijah and Finn have ensured that all other legal documents and accounts in your name are legitimate.”

Caroline sighed softly. “Klaus… do you even _want_ to marry me?”

He gave her a look that implied she was an idiot, although she knew that he would never say such a thing to her, and she said, “We’ve spent like… maybe a month together, total. And we were having sex about half the time. The rest, I was trying to steal information from you while trying to not get caught.”

He grinned at her then, his dimples flashing as he responded, “Well, the sex _was_ incredible. It always is, with you. As for not getting caught… Caroline, you’re beautiful and intelligent and clever. But my family and I didn’t stay alive for as long as we did without knowing exactly who we are up against. I made you out to be CIA the first day I met you. Any information I let you steal from me was carefully placed.”

Caroline couldn’t help the hurt that crossed her as she asked, her voice small, “Was this a game to you, then?”

Klaus saw the expression on her face and crossed the room in three long strides, dropping into the armchair by her side and grabbing her hands, enveloping them with his larger ones, forcing her to look at him. “That’s not what I meant, love. I meant that the information I let you take was real. It was information that my siblings and I decided would prove your usefulness to your agency, without causing us major damage in return. And… it would give you continued reasons to seek me out.”

“But why?”

“Sweetheart, my family and I have been around for far longer than you can imagine. We are generations upon generations of espionage. It’s been… a long time since I felt anything for anyone. But then you came along, and the instant I saw you all I could think about was how much I wanted to kiss you with your radiant smile, to learn the exact shade of the color of your eyes, to feel the softness of your hair, and to worship your glorious body reflected against the sun.” With that declaration, he planted tiny kisses along her knuckles as he continued, “Even knowing the risks of who you were, all I knew was that I wanted to see you again. Tempting you with small bits and pieces of information was a small price to pay in order to do so. Does anything else matter?”

When he saw the expression on her face, he sighed. “Of course I want to marry you, Caroline.”

“But you didn’t _ask_.” She said faintly.

He gave her a chagrined expression as he deadpanned, “Well, Tatia shooting you did put a damper on my engagement plans…”

She pouted. “Klaus, this isn’t funny.”

“So you don’t like your ring, then?”

Caroline’s eyes widened and her lips formed an ‘o’ at the implication of his words. Flustered, she gestured to the rings on her left hand as she spluttered, “T-This…?”

“Is the real ring that I intended to actually propose with, yes. And I must say, it does look quite good on you, does it not?” His smile was bashful this time. “I suppose you could consider it a trial period. If you don’t like it, we could put in for a divorce sometime down the line. Although I’m hoping you’ll let me change your mind.”

“Klaus,” Caroline repeated faintly, “this… are… are you proposing right now? Because this isn’t a proposal.”

“I suppose not,” he responded agreeably, leaning forward and carefully removing the rings from her left ring finger. “You do deserve a proper proposal.”

He stood up, straightened his suit, and dropped down to one knee, holding out the engagement ring as he softly declared, “Caroline Forbes, I love you more than I have ever cared for anyone in my entire life, and if you let me, I will spend every day for the rest of my life proving to you that I am worthy of you. I’m not a good person, and you know this. But you make me want to be better. I can’t promise you that I will never disappoint you, but I can promise you that I will always protect you with everything I have, that I will always love you, and that I will be your last love. Will you marry me?”

At his words, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling as she reached forward and clasped his hands with hers as she whispered fiercely, _“Yes.”_

He grinned in response, leaning forward to kiss her just as fiercely as he slid the rings back onto her left ring finger.

“I love you, Caroline Mikaelson,” he whispered reverently as he gently touched their foreheads together.

“And I love you, Klaus Mikaelson.” She responded, smiling as she closed her eyes and kissed him again.

* * *

_“Caroline,” Stefan said quietly. **“Do you love him?”**_

_“Stefan,” she whispered in response, and her best friend closed his eyes. Her non-response was answer enough._

_Stefan was quiet for a long moment before he finally sighed. “You know you’ll always have a friend in me, right?”_

_She smiled in gratitude. “I know. You’re my best friend. Thank you.”_

_“I hope you know what you’re doing, Forbes.”_

_“I hope so too.”_

* * *

**_FIN._ **


End file.
